Running Waters

Chery & Jon Turner

Running Waters

Running Waters is the name of Cheryl and Jon’s relay team.  They are running the Reach theBeach Relay in New Hampshire.  The relay is from the mountains of New Hampshire (Cannon Mountain), to the coast (Hampton Beach).  That’s 200 miles.  That’s over 24 hours of running.

  Take heart.  This is not a marathon.  It’s a relay, so Cheryl and Jon are part of a team from work, which is taking part in the race.  They work for Waters Corp. inMilford, MA.  Waters is a publicly traded laboratory analytical instrument and software company. Since Waters’ believes in the best quality of life for everyone, they contribute and support charitable efforts to improve the quality of life in the communities we live. 

  There are 12 runners on their team.  The girls are wearing pink, the guys’ fluorescent orange.  Their team shirt has the outline of New Hampshire with the mountains at the top and a course line going down to the beach. A list of the individuals on the team, is to the right. 

Hubby and I are here to support Cheryl and Jon (daughter and son-in-law).  Hubby and I drove them up to Cannon Mountain, this morning.  Tomorrow, we’ll pick them up at Hampton Beach. You can see the course here.   We were astonished to see the craziness at the starting line.  People were dressed up in costume.  Their vans were decorated, too.  There even was a van decorating contest.  These vans follow the runners carrying the next relay runners.  On the van are water and medical supplies.  The runners rest (probably sleep) in there, as well.

I am impressed with the organization.  Just read Marc Chalufour’sblogging about the event.  It’s been going on for 15 years.  The history is on Wikipedia.  Marc has everything nicely catalogued.  Note that its run on volunteers! 

And they’re off…

Volunteer Appreciation Night

MCI Norfolk had Volunteer Appreciation Night, tonight. It was a very nice time. We volunteers were honored by the Department of Correction Staff. We got to meet the Administration. We had a meal prepared by the inmates. We even listened to a few speeches by the inmates themselves, telling us what our presence means to them. You can tell these speakers belong to Toastmasters because they were excellent. Good job.

It was good to have a night like this because sometimes it's not easy being a volunteer in a prison. Those who are visiting don't understand our role. They see us waiting, wearing badges and think we're prison officials, and as such are "the enemy." At the least, they resent the time we take going through security. Time that could be better used for their own visit. And the guards, the prison officers think of us as "the enemy," also. They align us siding with the inmates.

So times like tonight are valuable. It validated my beliefs.

But there was a pall of sadness on the festivities. Last Friday, there was another inmate suicide. Prayers are requested for Michael.

Also, throw up some prayers for Richard Nethercutt. He actually won "Volunteer of the Year Award." But he wasn't there. He's been missing since Friday. His car was found but no sign of him. Richard facilitated the group: Alternatives to Violence. How ironic would it be if he were the victim of foul play.